Farmers and herdsmen in Adamawa State have agreed to cease hostilities in order to give chance for a Peace and Reconciliation Committee to work out a lasting solution to conflict between them in the state.
The agreement is contained in a statement read by Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, who presided over a two-day town hall meeting of farmers and herdsmen in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.
Umahi, who is leading the Ad Hoc Team set up by Federal Government to fashion out lasting solution to the crisis nationwide, said the committee would look into how best to transform the existing grazing reserves in the state.
“We noted that we have 31 grazing reserves in the state totalling 105,646 hectares of land of which the state government submitted that some of these gazetted reserves have been encroached upon.
“We recommend that the state and federal governments do group the herdsmen in the state into these gazetted reserves, use the anchor borrower scheme to develop them with modern facilities that will guarantee great yield of the cattle, make water, grass available, schools, a veterinary clinic and milk factory production available.
“We noted that with the increase in cattle, crop production and decrease of land, due to climate changes, there will continue to be conflict unless cattle movement is restricted into grazing reserve and ranching,” Umahi said.
He explained that the peace and reconciliation committee comprised the Deputy Governor of Adamawa, Mr Martins Babale, and representatives of farmers, herdsmen, traditional rulers, religious leaders and security agencies, among others.
